Deportation 'Band-Aid' for young immigrants

PATRICIA ZAPOR Catholic News Service

1/01/70

WASHINGTON - As the six-month mark approaches in an
administration program to defer deportation for some young
undocumented immigrants, the pace of applications has slowed,
but more than 150,000 people have been approved for the
status that comes with a work permit and a Social Security
number.

Meanwhile, states and the federal government are still
settling details of exactly what it means to be approved for
Deferred Action for Childhood Immigrants, or DACA, when it
comes to getting driver's licenses, in-state resident tuition
rates, some kinds of jobs and other issues.

One website with information about the program, United We
Dream, calls those who are approved "DACA-mented."

The reality is that recipients of deferred action are not in
an immigration status that leads to permanent legal
residency. In announcing the program June 15, President
Barack Obama called the effort "a temporary, stopgap measure"
until a more permanent solution to the problems of the
immigration system can be passed by Congress.

In Sanford, N.C., LaSalette Father Robert Ippolito, pastor at
St. Stephen the First Martyr Church, has processed 574
applications for DACA for his parishioners and others in
central North Carolina. So far, he told Catholic News
Service, none of the applications has been turned down,
"although I may be on the verge of my first one."

Some of his applications are processed and approved within a
month, others are taking up to three months. The explanation
given by the office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services, or USCIS, that each application would be considered
on its own merits is certainly proving to be true, he said.

DACA is open to those who came to the United States before
their 16th birthdays and are not yet 31, have been in the
U.S. at least five years, have clean criminal records, are
either in school or have completed at least high school and
who meet other criteria.

Approval means the government will not pursue deportation
unless the individual breaks the law. It comes with a work
permit and a Social Security card and is issued on a
two-year, renewable basis. Proof of many things must be
submitted with applications, but the type of documentation
that qualifies as proof is open to interpretation.

Father Ippolito told of submitting nearly identical
applications for three siblings, all in high school. Two
applications were quickly approved, while the third was
kicked back to him. It had a notation that the documentation
was insufficient to prove the youth was physically present in
the United States when DACA was announced. Since the school
transcript that met that requirement in two of the siblings'
cases was inadequate in that case, Father Ippolito said he
submitted a letter from one of the student's teachers
attesting that he'd been in school on the last day of classes
in June.

"When they say cases are adjudicated on an individual basis,"
he said, "they really mean it."

Now that he's learned generally what types of documents are
being accepted, Father Ippolito said the process has gone
very well.

"I'm very pleased with the response of USCIS," he said.

Still evolving is the answer to whether DACA recipients are
eligible to get driver's licenses in states that require
immigrants to have legal immigration status. In North
Carolina, for example, DACA recipients initially were able to
get licenses, then the administrator of the licensing agency
stopped allowing it, pending an opinion from the state
attorney general. Letters were sent to some DACA recipients
who'd already been issued licenses telling them it was a
mistake.

Then, a Jan 17 letter from the state attorney general's
office said DACA recipients are "legally present" in the
United States and therefore eligible to apply for licenses.
As of Jan. 25, the website of the North Carolina Division of
Motor Vehicles still carried only a Jan. 15 post explaining
that DACA recipients could not get licenses and that "once
the AG's office issues an opinion, a determination about
issuing licenses to DACA applicants will be made."

The National Immigration Law Center lists just three states -
Arizona, Michigan and Nebraska - which have said DACA
recipients are not eligible for driver's licenses. Lawsuits
are challenging the policies in Arizona and Michigan, which
created special rules for DACA recipients, the center
reported.

On Jan. 18, USCIS issued updated guidelines for DACA,
clarifying the distinction between "unlawful presence" and
"lawful status," in a way that immigrant advocates are
interpreting to mean some of the state objections to granting
licenses on the basis of the definition of legal status are
moot.

Requirements for the type of identification required for
licenses also vary from state to state. A nonprofit
organization, Protectors of the Dream, which has a grant
program for DACA application fees and carries information
about the program on its web site, warns Texas residents that
they should begin studying for the license exam while
awaiting DACA approval.

"We suggest that you get your Texas driver's license or Texas
identification card before you apply for your Social Security
card because if you don't you will not be able to complete
your (license or ID application) until your Social Security
card is issued," the site explains.

Policies also vary around the country for whether colleges
allow DACA recipients to obtain lower in-state tuition rates.

And in at least one state, there have been reports that
approved DACA recipients run into an unexpected hurdle when
they take their approval letter and work permit to the Social
Security office.

In Texas, some people whose DACA applications have been
approved told their attorneys that when they went to apply
for their Social Security cards they were subjected to
questions that seemed to suggest they were being targeted for
an extra layer of scrutiny.

Houston-area attorney, Sarah Monty, who is affiliated with
Protectors of the Dream, sent Catholic News Service a list of
questions asked of at least one DACA recipient with whom she
worked, including about when she arrived in the United
States, whether she had ever worked in the U.S. before
receiving a work permit and whether her parents had Social
Security cards.

Monty said such questions are not normal and they might deter
some eligible people from applying for Social Security cards,
because they're worried about repercussions to their
families.

However, Monty said she spoke Jan. 24 to a Social Security
administrator who told her this type of questioning was not
the norm and that she would investigate the report. An
attempt by CNS to clarify the situation with the Social
Security administrator did not elicit a response.